There is a Catholic understanding of justification just as there is a Protestant view. These two perspectives are mutually exclusive. 

Organisers of ‘Together for Europe 2016’ in Munich believe “500 years of division is enough, unity is possible”. Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I supported the meeting.

“In no way are we trying to minimize the large doctrinal differences of times past”, organiser Nick Hall tells Evangelical Focus. 1 million Christians from diverse Christian backgrounds are expected to participate.

Italian pastor Giovanni Traettino believes “the Word of God is moving and acting in the Catholic Church.” The Pentecostal leader encourages other churches to have an “open” approach to the Vatican. “Pope Francis is my brother in Christ”, he says in an interview with Evangelical Focus.

An analysis of the 1541 Colloquy of Regensburg.

Aim is “to express the gifts of the Reformation and ask forgiveness for division perpetuated by the two traditions.” “It doesn’t make any sense”, says President of the Theology Comission of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance, Jose Hutter.

What was the Protestant Reformation all about?

Evangelical Focus asked the well-known Pentecostal pastor about his “open” approach to Roman Catholicism. Traettino defended his position about ecumenism during the Italian Evangelical Alliance 2016 assembly (8-9 April, Rome).

A closer look at Heinrich Bullinger, Theodore Beza, Thomas Cranmer, William Perkins and Conrad Grebel.

The Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance believes the views of evangelical minorities in Catholic countries should be “heared” before relating to the Vatican. In an interview with Evangelical Focus, he also highlighted the role of the churches in the refugee crisis.

The way in which Catholicism perceives time - the sense of definitiveness as well as that of a progression - is a solid indicator of its basic theological framework.

The majority of Italian evangelicals are in favour of co-belligerence, but clearly dismiss ecumenism. A first report of the Italian Evangelical Alliance assembly, in Rome (8-9 April).

According to the Pope, mercy achieves justice by avoiding tribunals, sentences, and prices to be paid. 

During his visit to the region, Pope Francis condemned the exploitation and social exclusion of the indigenous peoples. But Roman Catholics in Chiapas continue to persecute evangelical believers.

10 biblical reasons why I cannot be a Roman Catholic.

Building Christian unity on baptism brings several challenges. In my corner of the world (Italy), a vast majority of people have been baptized and yet very few show any sign of appreciation of basic gospel truths.

Catholic and Lutheran leaders will commemorate the Protestant Reformation in Lund, Sweden, on October 31. “Risk of elevating unity to the absolute principle”, evangelical Vatican expert warns.

There is the risk of elevating “unity” to the absolute principle, a little “god” claiming pre-eminence. It takes courage to make unity dependent on the Biblical truths and not elevating it to the place of “first imperative”.

The regime gets its own agents to act as clergymen, to convince the Western visitors that there was religious freedom in the country.

The Pope seems to think that the “letter” is a straitjacket to the mission of the Church and needs to be replaced by the “spirit” of it.

The discussion on the Anti-Christ must be revived and worked out with biblical soberness and historical awareness.

Evangelicals have to do their homework in order to go beyond the surface of mere phonetics in order to grasp the profoundly different theological vision underpinning Francis’ language.

Evangelicals insist that it is God who forgives sins, not the Church. Theologian Leonardo de Chirico: “It is a liberal move with a medieval tool”.

The encyclical strongly relates these ecological problems to social issues such as injustice and income inequality: it asserts that where the fabric of society breaks down, the environment suffers as well. 

In Francis’ vocabulary there was no better term to discredit this merciless form of Christianity than referring to it as “Puritanism”.